JK ROWLING OWNS ALL THINGS POTTER. I just like to play, especially with Sirius :)

AN: This is an idea that has been in my head for awhile. There are dark images, language and a small lemon. Some of you Harry Potter experts may find a few details or magical spellings may be incorrect, I do apologise. Harry's is not my usual world. The characters may be a little OC in places, but I hope that that, does not stop you enjoying the story. And yes, I know it's not beta'd, I just hope you can look past my mistakes and enjoy story.

Hot angry tears of frustration, anger and fear, threatened to rob Hermione's bruised and burning lungs of the little air they were managing to hold as she circled the oblivion of unconsciousness.

This couldn't be it. After everything she had gone through, everything she had done and achieved, it couldn't be her destiny to die in some dark, squalid basement with only a snivelling Draco Malfoy for company.

"I'm so sorry...Mione...truly I am...they...they...cruciatis curse...more advanced...all night...the pain..." he whimpered pitifully as he crouched over her.

Drawing in a ragged and agonising breath, Hermione focused her rapidly swelling eyes on him.

"Harry...should have...let...you...burn...you...weasel faced...coward..." she hissed. Her voice was barely more than a hoarse whisper, but Draco heard and agreed with every word.

He had been raised to believe that thanks to his 'pure blood', he was superior to Mudblood's like Granger in every way possible. But Draco had learnt the hard way, through school, the war, his now finished career as a Auror, that Granger had more intelligence, more guts, more class in her little finger, than he would ever posses.

She had gone to bat for him on more than one occasion during those difficult years after the Second War, helping him rebuild his relationship with Pansy after his drinking, the only way he had at the time to try and cope with what he had seen, what he had done. And then unexpectedly, she had used her influence with Potter and the Order, to secure him a post in the Auror office. True she had been far from complimentary in her recommendation stating;

"...surely its better we have use of that devious little mind of his. Professor Dumbledore did the same thing with Professor Snape remember Harry...keep your friends close, and your two faced, cunning enemies even closer..."

But she had tried to help him have some kind of normal life, to help him fit back into the world he had expected to shun him.

"One of the greatest wizards that ever lived died and another was left permanently maimed and in agony, trying to protect you from Voldemort. You owe it to them to try and make something of yourself and not fuck this up."

And what had he done? When given the chance to try and repay some of her kindness and protect her from the twisted minds of the "Second Front", a group comprised largely of the children of dead and jailed Death Eaters, eager to carry on where their parents had been forced to leave off? Begged for his life and the end to the torture they were putting him through for being a traitor and a "Mudblood lover". Agreeing with pathetic eagerness, to lure Hermione into a trap, stating that he had received information from an informant regarding where one of the Magic Is Might, or MIM cells, were holding a group of missing mixed heritage children.

Immobilised and bound to his chair, all Draco could do was watch in horror as Hermione was...tortured. She had put up a hell of a vicious fight, Draco could already see that at least one of the four strong gang would require a lengthy stay in Saint Mungo's. But fuelled by their hatred and a new hallucinogenic potion called Abracadabra, they had over powered the slightly built Hermione. It had been when Gregory Yaxley had decided that after her failed relationship with Ron Weasely, that it was time she 'found out what it felt like to be with a real wizard' that Draco had finally remembered he actually possessed a pair of balls and a spine.

Focusing his concussed mind, he had managed to muster enough mental control to cast the Immobulus reversal spell. This had left him able to summon his fallen wand and free himself to help Hermione. But as he gazed down at her battered and bloodied form, Draco had the sick feeling that he was too late.

There was so much blood. And her breathing was now little more than a painful rattling deep in her chest.

"HERMIONE...DRACO..." Potter's loud and anxious shout dragged Draco from his panicked musings. As soon as he had managed to subdue the MIM gang, he had sent a Patronus to find Harry and let him know what had happened.

"DOWN HERE!" Draco bellowed, tapping his throat with his wand, to ensure that his voice would carry up through the thick stone floors of the house where they were being held.

Moments later the door was blasted open and the darkness illuminated with almost blindingly bright lanterns.

"I need that emergency healer team down here NOW!" Harry bellowed, as he dropped to his knees beside one of his oldest and closest friends, beside the girl who had become the sister he always wanted.

"She...she..." Draco began.

"Draco, if you want to make it out of here alive, I swear to Merlin, you need to shut your fucking mouth." Harry snarled. "Dean...get him, upstairs." He barked over his shoulder to his long time friend and now trusted colleague who had followed him down the stairs.

Swallowing hard, Harry had to draw on every ounce of control and professionalism he had, as he gently reached out to examine the wounds on his fallen officer.

Her face was a swollen mass of rapidly darkening bruises and her body...oh Merlin have mercy on her, was more like a piece of raw meat, so great were the amount of sectum Sempra inflicted wounds, that had been made deep enough to torture, but not kill. The most sickening wound being over her heart, where those sickening words, MUD BLOOD had been carved.

"Sirius...Sirius I'm sorry baby...so sorry...I tried...I tried to keep my promise...I don't want to leave you..." Hermione began to whimper.

"No Hermione...it's me...its Harry darling..." Harry said gently as he attempted to smooth the wild and matted curls from her brow. He had to choke back a sob, as his friends heartbreaking declaration, confirmed what he had suspected for awhile. Her relationship with his godfather had moved from being a lustful fling, a clash of opposites, of something more.

"Harry...guess I should have waited for you...you and Ron...before I went after three...thick old trolls." she rasped.

"Damn right...had my wand ready to stick up his nose and everything..." Harry soothed, hoping that the smile on his face did not portray the terror he was feeling inside.

"WHERE, ARE THOSE HEALERS?" Harry demanded desperately, only to have his answer arrive in the shape of Senior Healer Azura Shacklebolt, Kingsley's wife and her two assistants.

"Sorry Harry..." she panted as she dropped down beside Hermione, St Mungo's is bursting at the seams. There has been a full blown outbreak of Dragon Flu. We're stretched to capacity, even for us. There is only so far we can enchant the building before Muggles would notice." She explained as she carefully began assessing Hermione.

"But you have a bed for Hermione?" Harry queried.

Pausing briefly, Asura looked up at him.

"We do...but she is in such a fragile state, that...I am truly worried that infection could..."

Hermione's moan of agony pulled both their attentions away, if only for a moment, from the conversation where it was what was not, being said, that was of most importance.

"Sirius...pleeeease...Harry...please get Sirius..." she almost screamed, as her back arched from the floor in pain at the feel of one of the potions being applied to her skin.

"Harry, I can't lie to you. From what I have seen, there is a real chance that Hermione may not make it. Her injuries are...extensive...her ribs are broken and the potions she has been forced to ingest...I don't know what they are, but...they are already causing her internal organs serious harm. Her heart rate, nervous system, breathing...she is slowly being poisoned." Azura hissed, but not quietly enough for Hermione not to hear.

"Harry...Harry..." Hermione rasped, reaching up wildly to try and grab his sleeve.

"Harry, if I'm...if I'm going to..." Hermione choked, her body wracked with a painful coughing spasm, which provoked more concern from Azura. "Harry...take me home, take me back to Grimmauld Place...take me...take me back to Sirius..." Hermione begged.

"Remus I'm going to kill them...starting with that weasel faced little rat Malfoy."Sirius raged, his tone chillingly matter of fact as he paced the kitchen of Grimmauld place, his hand running roughly through his hair.

"And I'll be there to help you, providing of course Molly Weasely leaves us any remains...but right at this minute Padfoot, your main concern, your only concern...has to be Hermione..." Remus Lupin urged his distraught friend.

"You heard what Harry said. She's been asking for you...refusing any pain relief, until she sees you. She needs you now Sirius, she needs you to be strong for her. Especially...especially if..." Remus trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, to even finish the thought of the young girl who had been one of his brightest students, one of his greatest supporters and in later one of his closest friends, being taken from him, from those who loved her so brutally.

How could Merlin be so cruel, as to let tragic history repeat itself once more he thought savagely?

"I can't lose her Moony; I just can't...not now..." Sirius groaned as he slumped into one of the chairs at the long kitchen table.

Whilst both he and Hermione, had believed themselves to be resolved to the fact that there could come a day when one of them could be seriously hurt, or worse whilst they were out in the field. Now the day had arrived, Sirius found himself to a terrified, desperate mess. As he had always thought, always hoped, that he would be the one who's already overused luck, would run out first. Whilst he would have hated to leave Hermione alone again, he knew that eventually, she would be able to cope without him.

He on the other hand, knew without a shadow of a doubt, that he could not, would not, want to cope without her.

He needed her.

It may have started out for both of them, as a curious exploration of overwhelming physical attraction and lust. But Sirius return from the veil and Hermione's discovery that the parents she had sent to Australia to be safe, had in fact perished in a fire three months after their arrival. Had shown them just how little time they had to take for granted. Not that their early courtship had been an easy one.

They were so very different, almost comically so, to the casual observer. The Bookworm and the Marauder, two people who seemed to thrive on their disagreements about almost everything, but whom in their own intimate privacy, understood each other's thoughts, feelings and fears far better than anyone could have imagined.

However, despite Sirius teasing protestations to the contrary, a relationship that is going to endure cannot be conducted solely in the bedroom or the relative privacy of their own home. And that was where their first problems had arisen. Those last nervous, doubts about each other's feelings, about how their relationship would 'look' to the outside world, had led to a series of rows that had been all the more chilling and disturbing for their lack of volume and explosive passion.

Taking the view that as the allegedly, older and more experienced part of their coupling, Sirius had been the one to take the lead in exposing their relationship and his feelings for Hermione to the world. He had been as Remus had sarcastically remarked; 'the very epitome of restraint, old school charm, elegance and romance'.

Dinners in exclusive restaurants, trips to art galleries and libraries Hermione loved, seemingly endless shopping trips in Diagon Alley and in London, nights spent socialising with both her magical and muggle friends. Sirius had done everything he could think of to try and show her and the world, just how much she meant to him and how much he loved her. And she had been appreciative both physically and otherwise. Making the effort to get to know and charm his biker friends, the few pure blood witches and wizards he had any time for whilst spending hours every evening, helping him work on a speech he was due to give at a charity dinner for the Wrongly Accused Foundation he had co founded with a fellow prisoner from Azkaban.

But when it came down to it, when it came to formally announcing to the world exactly what he meant to her, what his role in her life actually was...he had been crushed to discover that she still referred to him as..." just a friend, or my friend Sirius."

"Tell me Mione, do you make a habit of fucking all your friends? I mean it could be interesting to compare notes with Harry, Ron and Remus...see just how well you have gotten over your shyness." Sirius had sneered, earning himself a vicious slap across the face that he would feel for days. But it was nowhere near as painful as the look of anger and hurt he had seen in her eyes.

Sirius had regretted the words almost as soon as he'd said them. Whilst he may have been justifiably hurt by her behaviour, calling into question her morals like that, when he knew that several soured relationships had caused her to seriously question both her looks and her abilities in bed, had been the behaviour of the man that serious was trying so hard not to be anymore. But before he had chance to try and apologise, she had apparated away from him and not returned for almost a week. Ignoring his owls, any attempts he had made at work to try and talk to her about anything that wasn't related to a case. His desperate entreaties made through their reluctant and disappointed friends. Finally after much pitiful pleading, Harry had told him that Hermione was camped out in his and Ginny's spare room. And that no, it probably wasn't the best idea to come round and try to talk to Hermione face to face, as Harry wasn't sure he could guarantee his safety...from a pregnant and dangerously hormonal Ginny.

Finally on the sixth day, Sirius who had barely slept or eaten as he had raged around Grimmauld Place veering wildly between despair and his former 'fuck you all' emotional response to situations like this, had allowed himself to be dragged out by Harry and Remus to a Muggle pub. Ordinarily, they would have lost themselves in the secluded back bar of the Leaky Cauldron to drown their sorrows, but Sirius' almost violent reactions to the knowing smirks of the witches and wizards who had heard the gossip that had been eagerly passed on by those who had been in the Charmed Palace that fateful night, had made it clear that they needed to get him to somewhere where no one knew them.

Except Ginny, George, Luna, Seamus, Dean, Percy, Kingsley, Azura, Bill, Fleur and as many other members of the Order and their partners, that Ginny and a nervous Hermione had managed to gather together at short notice.

A nervous, but beautiful Hermione, casually dressed in form fitting blue jeans and a white gypsy style tunic, her curls tumbling to her shoulders, had slowly, cautiously approached him. Almost in the way one might approach a large dog whose temperament you were unsure of he thought wryly.

"Mione?" he had whispered, confused, shocked, but unable to take his eyes from her face. She had looked as tired and lost as he did.

Reaching out, Hermione had clasped his hands tightly in her own. But before she could speak, Ginny had bounded up beside them.

"God Sirius you look horrible...anyhoo...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!" she had trilled much to Sirius confusion.

"It's our anniversary, well...almost...nine months, three weeks and four days...I...I thought we could celebrate...with all our friends.."Hermione had said quietly, nervously chewing on her lower lip.

"I...I didn't get you a present..." he had muttered stupidly.

"That's okay, I didn't get you one either, we'll just have to improvise..." Hermione had purred, before claiming his mouth in the most loving, tender, but strangely erotic kisses he had ever experienced. Whilst he had been dimly aware of the loud whooping and cat calls from their friends and the Muggles around them, he didn't care. Voldemort himself, could have strolled in and ordered a pint and he still would not have, could not have, dragged himself away from the beautiful witch in his arms.

It had truly felt at that moment, that the warmth created by her lips moving hungrily against his own, and her ragged, tear filled breath, had once again breathed life, back into the heart that had become lifeless and cold during those days without her.

Oh dear Merlin...if days without her had been agony...weeks, months...years, did not even bear thinking about.

"Sirius...I...I'm sorry I hurt you." She had panted when the need for air had become desperate and they had pulled away from each other.

"I...I shouldn't have said what I said...I am sorry beautiful...I was just...my stupid pride..." he had begun, still not caring the curious and embarrassed looks they were receiving.

"You were right...I was wrong, cruel to call you just my friend... although you are, I just truly didn't know, still don't really know, what to call you, how to describe you...describe just what you mean to me..." Hermione had said almost desperately, as she had cupped his face in her tiny hands, her eyes shining with happiness, but also a little fear. "You're a little bit old to be my boyfriend...I don't really like man friend, significant other, partner...although I think that one has possibilities."

"Lover?" Sirius had offered with a wolfish grin.

Hermione had paused dramatically to consider it, a slow, teasing smile twisting her lips, before she had shook her head.

"Accurate, but not solid or permanent enough sounding..."

Sirius' heart had soared hearing her mention the word permanent, seen the honesty and affection in her eyes as she too he was certain, had day dreamed for just a moment, about the future, their future.

She would tell him later, as they lay cuddled in a haze of post coital bliss, that yes, she too had actually seen children, a little boy and a little girl. Only in her vision, it was their daughter who had possessed the true Marauder's spirit. Their son would defy what was expected of the son of Sirius Black, and be the more calm and academic.

Feeling overwhelmed by that image and the genuine love and excitement for the future he had seen in her eyes, Sirius had pulled her even tighter against him, so that she had ended up laying half sprawled across him, his thigh nestling between her legs. Laying a tender kiss to the top of her head, Sirius had announced that he would be more than proud, if they were blessed with a son who took more after his mother than him. As whilst he may be quiet and more thoughtful, he would still possess his mother's huge heart, bravery and thirst for adventure. His words had earned him an adorable eye roll, a giggle and another long, teasing kiss that had seen Hermione invade his mouth with her tongue, and take her own, sweet, sweet time to explore and taste every part of him.

"Although, I really would be happier if he didn't have the annoying know it all thing going on..."she had said finally when she had pulled away from him. "It's not one of my more attractive qualities." she had said propping her chin on her hand as she looked up at him.

"Oh I don't know...I fucking love the fact, that you...know...all...the places...on...my...body...that...make me...as horny...and hard for you...as I am...right...at this...moment. " Sirius had growled lowly, shifting his hips beneath her.

Hermione had let out a soft moan, before she had sat up, moving herself so she was fully straddling his thighs, trapping his now prominent arousal between them.

"You mean places...like this one?" she had asked innocently, rolling her hips teasingly, before reaching out to grip him with just the right amount of pressure.

"Or...this one...?" she had queried in a soft purr as she had leant right over him, allowing her soft curls to fall in a teasing curtain across his over sensitive skin, and began laying hot, open mouthed, suckling kisses to the juncture where his neck met his shoulder.

Sirius' deeper than usual wanton moan had caused Hermione to cease her ministrations and pull back so she could look in his face. A move which had caused him to groan once more, as he had drunk in the breathtaking sight of her sat astride him, her body bathed in the moonlight streaming in through the window behind her, her eyes shining with love and lust.

"You okay there...Light of my Life?" Hermione had asked an edge of concern to her playful tone.

Sirius had let out a playful bark of laughter, as he had reached out to let his hands begin wandering a torturously slow and teasing circuit from her hips, along her rib cage and across her breasts, where he had made certain to allow his thumbs to tease her taut peaks.

As their celebrations in the pub that night had progressed and become more and more riotous, George and Dean, had decided that it might be fun for them to join in with the Smuggles who were indulging in some tuneless and sometimes painful karaoke singing. Whilst most of their party had initially declined, preferring instead to watch the drunken Smuggles make fools of themselves. After a few more drinks and well worded dares from George and Dean, several inebriated wizards including Sirius had staggered to the stage.

Sirius, Remus and surprisingly Kingsley had given a spirited if slightly tuneless performance of The Boys Are Back In Town, declaring that, it was a song from when Muggles really knew how to write music. Whilst George, Bill and Percy had given a touching performance of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, with George raising a glass and a silent thought to his lost twin. The girls, deciding there was safety and slightly less embarrassment in numbers, had sung Can't Fight the Moonlight, with a tipsy Tonks declaring she was dedicating it was for her wonderful husband. She had not been the only one however, to make such a romantic gesture as much to everyone's surprise, Hermione had taken to the stage solo, to announce shyly into the microphone.

"This song is for my Sirius, who really is...The Light of My Life."

"I never knew you had such a sweet voice Kitten..." Sirius had mused, his hand reaching up to tenderly cup her cheek.

"It's amazing what a few drinks can do." She had teased, ducking her head shyly, before leaning forward over him once more, bracing her hands either side of his head.

"But...as stupid as I felt up there, when I saw the words to that song...I just...it kind of said, everything I've been feeling, been wanting to say, but haven't been able to." She had said softly, brushing her lips softly against his as she had begun to croon softly once more.

"Just imagining, you're here holding me...

the thought of you just burning me inside...

People say you'll end up hurting me...

If only they could see, what I see...

Her words had become muffled as she began to kiss and drag her tongue down over his jaw and along his neck, whilst her soft hands alternated between caressing and teasing the overheated skin covering the broad planes of his chest.

They'd know your love

One thing in life I'm sure of...

Light of my Life...

Oh Sirius..." she had moaned breathily, as she had risen up slowly and positioned herself so she could slowly encase him in her warm heat.

Sirius found himself pulled from his desperate musings, by the sound of Hermione's voice calling out his name, not in pleasure as she had gone on to do that night, but in pain and distress. Springing to his feet, he raced into the hall to see Harry, guiding, Azura Shacklebolt and her team of Healers, towards the stairs. Between them, hovered a stretcher carrying an increasingly distressed Hermione.

"Sirius...I...I need to see Sirius..." came the rough voice.

"Hermione, I really need you to try and stay still sweetheart." Azura said gently yet firmly, as she laid a hand on Hermione's head in an attempt to stop her thrashing it from side to side in her agitation.

For a long moment, Sirius found himself paralysed with fear. He was desperate to run to her side, to comfort her, but his traitorous leaden limbs refused to move.

"He's right here Mione," Harry said pointedly glaring at his godfather over his stricken friends head.

And still Sirius couldn't move, until Hermione let a shrill cry of pain. Within seconds, Sirius had covered the small space between them and was gazing down into his loves face. It took every ounce of control he had, not to cry out as he saw her swollen and bloodied face.

"What time do you call this Kitten? There's me spending all afternoon slaving over a hot stove making dinner, and there's you rolling in here, having had all the fun of good Death Eater raid without me." He said roughly as he reached up to smooth the hair away from her sweat slicked brow.

Hermione hissed in pain as she attempted to force her swollen and bloody lips into a smile. Oh Merlin, he looked so scared. With a grunt of pain, she attempted to lift her throbbing arm to reach out to touch his face.

"Hermione please...I'm pretty sure that wrist is broken...please try not to move..." Azura pleaded. Fixing Azura with what she hoped was a scowl, Hermione once again lifted her arm, she would suffer the pain of a broken wrist a thousand times over, rather than see the pain in her man's eyes. Whilst his handsome face was twisted into a smile, it did not reach his stormy grey eyes. They were shining with fear and pain.

" I'm sure she never used to be so stubborn..." Azura muttered.

"Must be the company I'm...she's keeping." Hermione and Sirius said in unison.

Laughs which sounded more like strangled sobs echoed round the hallway, as Sirius leant further over the stretcher, gently laying her injured hand against his cheek and covering it with his own hand.

"Let them help you beautiful...please..." he said lowly.

Hermione nodded briefly.

"I just...I just wanted to...needed to see you...before...I love you...so very much...always have...I'm sorry...I'm sorry we won't..." Hermione began.

"STOP IT!" Sirius snapped. "Don't you do that Mione...don't you say goodbye to me...you are not going anywhere...do you hear me?" he demanded roughly.

"I don't want too...truly I don't...but...but...they don't know...what was in those potions...Sirius...I...I'm being poisoned...and..." Hermione sobbed.

"And we'll find out what by...and we'll stop it. You...you promised me Hermione...you promised me, that we had a future together. You, me and our children. You...you promised me...that you would never leave me alone...that you would...that you would always be there...to protect me from the darkness..." Sirius rasped, not caring who saw the tears running unchecked down his cheeks, or heard the desperation in his voice. "A Gryfindor...always...always keeps their promise...especially to those they love." He said, leaning down to lay the softest of kisses on the top of her head.

"Sirius..." Hermione whimpered, the agony in her tone coming not from the physical pain wracking her body, but the agonising pain that was now gripping her heart.

"Don't leave me Mione...please." Sirius begged.

Spinner's End like the rest of the country, had for the last week, been blanketed in an oppressive blanket of humid heat. But that had not stopped the occupant of the cottage at the farthest end of the village's long, narrow main street, from lighting a large fire in the hearth.

Whilst the intense magical heat had long since, stopped being able to offer anything bar the minimum amount of relief from the painful aching in his bones. Severus Snape had continued to light the fire of an evening, as the warm glow it cast around the small living room, seemed to hide just how neglected and lonely both the building and it's occupant actually were.

There were times Severus thought, as he kicked his rocking chair into gentle motion with his foot, that he wished that he had not less Miss Granger force him to drink the antidote to Nargini's venom. Not least because it had not been as effective as the little no it all had thought it would be. Whilst it had drawn from his body, enough venom to ward off death, it had left behind enough, to leave him in constant pain as it corroded his nervous system and left the right side of his body effectively useless.

Death would have surely been a more merciful release, than to spend years suffering and...alone.

True, his seclusion was largely of his own making. The thought of pity from the remaining members of The Order, being too much to bear. But as his dark eyes watched the bewitched flames dance, Sirius couldn't help but bitterly reflect upon the last time anyone from the Order, anyone who had professed such profusive thanks in the months after the war, after his sacrifice, had actually attempted to try and enquire about his health and wellbeing.

Anyone except Potter that was. As despite Severus' best efforts to force the boy to leave him be, the arrogant, annoying, emotional little do gooder, insisted on sending regular owls and inflicting himself and his ever increasing family upon him once a month for tea. Announcing that after what he had learnt from the thoughts Severus had given him when he thought he was about to die, he owed him a debt that he wasn't sure he would ever be able to repay.

And whilst the thought of forever having Potter, who really had become the exact double of his father as he matured, in his life both horrified and amused him, knowing that despite his alleged debt, Potter still could not fully overcome his loathing for the older wizard who had tormented him so. Severus did take a little comfort in knowing, that there was someone there to reach out to, when he needed a little extra help. Miss Weasely had been a surprising comfort when a nasty bout of flu, had laid him low for most of one winter.

And another benefit to those teas, was that Severus got to spend time with young Albus. That boy although being only seven, was already displaying a prodigious natural talent for potions making. And unlike his father, the boy was willing to listen, to be guided. The boy was so like his grandmother had been, even down to the quiet laugh and endearing wrinkle between his brows when he was concentrating. They also it transpired, shared a common interest in Muggle trains.

They had begun a correspondence, with Severus looking forward with he knew, a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm for the next carefully written owl from the young boy, containing drawings he had made, or numbers he had collected. Potter had even allowed him to accompany the family to a large Muggle exhibition of trains in London.

Severus couldn't help but smile softly to himself, as he remembered the excitement on young Albus' face, or the sensation of the little boys slipping his hand into his own, as he had excitedly dragged him forward. Stopping once or twice, to enquire with genuine concern, if he was going too fast for him.

"SEVERUS! OPEN UP...I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"

Frightened out of his musings by the loud roar and heavy fisted thumping on his front door, Severus rose painfully to his feet and snatched up his wand.

Flinging open the door, Severus was stunned to see Sirius Black on his door step.

"BLACK! Do you have any idea what time it is?" Severus hissed.

Glancing at the ugly old clock on the mantel, Sirius was shocked to see that it was only just about to strike midnight. It had felt like days since he had received Harry's message and then seen Hermione, but it had in fact only been a few hours.

"I need your help."

"Well hello to you too Black, yes, I'm fine thanks for asking...it seems you can neither teach old dogs, new tricks, or manners..." Sirius had sneered.

"Listen Snivellus..." Sirius had barked, feeling his already tenuous hold on his control beginning to snap.

"A word of advice Black, when asking someone for help, it often works out better if you don't insult them..." Severus snapped, as he attempted to shift his weight more comfortably on his cane.

Sirius felt a momentary pang of guilt, as he observed closely for the first time in years, his old school enemy. It had been almost eight years since the end of the war, but Severus looked as if he'd aged eighty years. His greasy black hair was now a shocking white and his face heavily lined, whilst the long thin body that had seemed to glide rather than walk, was now twisted and hunched.

"Hermione...she's...she's been hurt. Draco Malfoy..." Sirius spat, as he began running his hands roughly through his hair. "He...he lead her into an ambush, telling her that he had information on those mixed heritage children we think have been kidnapped by the MIM gang. They...they tortured her..." Sirius rasped, praying that the crack in his voice he could hear, was audible only to him. "They forced her to drink...potions...Azura Shacklebolt is trying to identify them...but...but...they are working so rapidly on Hermione's system...she...she doesn't think..."Sirius trailed off, unable even to finish the thought, let alone say the words.

After his desperate plea for her not to leave him, Hermione had promised him she would fight whatever it was poisoning her body with everything she had, before taking the potion that would hopefully kill her pain but leave her in an almost comatose state as her body attempted to heal. She had been resting comfortably for almost an hour, when the screaming started.

"What the hell is in this damn potion?" Azura Shacklebolt had almost screamed in frustration, as she stared hopelessly at the array of cauldrons and test tubes bubbling in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. "I have isolated every damn ingredient I can find in the blood sample I took and the samples Harry's team bought back from the house, and still, still the antidotes aren't working! They seem to causing some kind of reaction in Hermione's system..."

"Can't you give her something more for the pain?" Sirius had demanded desperately.

Hermione was still under the effects of the painkilling potion and unconscious, but it was doing nothing to stop the agonisingly violent convulsions that were ripping through her slight frame. Or the chilling screams that Sirius knew, would haunt his dreams forever more.

"I can't Sirius...she's had as much as I can safely give her...anymore, and her heart could stop..." Azura had said. "I have to know what else was in that potion."

"Sirius no, your place is here...what if she wakes up?" a red faced Molly Weasely had demanded twenty minutes later as Sirius was preparing to step into the Floo and head to the Auror office with Harry, to talk to the gang members they had caught.

"SHE'S NOT GOING TO WAKE UP!" Sirius had barked angrily, roughly shaking off her restraining arm, before turning and wrapping the now shaking older witch in a tender embrace. "I'm sorry Molly...I truly am...I mean, she's not going to wake up, unless I find out what else was in that potion. I...I can't just sit here and do nothing..." he had pleaded, silently begging her to understand as he had disappeared into the green flames.

After ensuring that a now almost catatonic Malfoy had not seen or heard anything about what was in the potion Hermione was given, Sirius and Harry had headed down to the cells.

"CRUCIATIS!" Siruis had roared without preamble the moment the doors were open. The force of his spell had sent a screaming Gregory Yaxley, spiralling back into the stone wall behind him, with a heavy thump.

"You...you...he...can't do...this..." Yaxley had panted, looking desperately at Harry as he fought against the painful spasms gripping him.

"Sorry, do what? Think I may be due a visit to St Mungo's for some new glasses y'know Sirius..." Harry had remarked, making a show of taking off his glasses and squinting through them.

"Might want to get them to check your hearing as well..." Sirius had sneered.

Both Sirius and Harry knew that torture was not the reliable way to gain information from suspects. Not that either of them had much experience of using it. They had both seen it misused on innocents in the past and used it only as a last resort.

"You're...a...traitor...Black..." Yaxley had spat inbetween screams.

"Traitor, Mudblood lover, I've heard them all, and am proud to be. Now, you'd be better off saving your breath, to tell me what I want to know." Sirius had said coldly as she loomed over the writhing Yaxley.

"But Mr Yaxley, did not know the answers to your questions."

Snape's smooth voice, startled Sirius from his musing.

"Get the fuck, out of my head Snivellus..." Sirius had growled as he glared dangerously at the Occlumens standing before him.

"As you wish...please close the door on your way out." Severus said coldly as he moved to reclaim his seat in his rocker.

"WHAT? Sniv...Severus...I...I'm sorry..." Sirius ground out, feeling every word stick in his throat as he was forced to say them. "Look..please Severus...I...Hermione hasn't gone time to waste...we need your help..."

"I fail to see, what you think I can do..."

"Oh come on Severus...you wrote the fucking book on fucked up, illegal potions...if anyone can tell us what's in this potion it's you."

"From you Black, I'll take that crude outburst, as the backhanded compliment it was intended to be." Severus drawled.

"Whatever Severus...look Hermione saved your life..." Sirius began, only to be cut off by a raging Snape.

"And what a life, trapped inside a useless body, abandoned by my so called friends.. yes I must really thank her..." Severus snapped bitterly.

"WHAT? We have all tried to include you...but you don't want to know...FUCK IT SEVERUS...what is it you want...do you want me to beg? Do you want me to get on my knees and beg forgiveness for every damn thing I, Remus and James ever did to you? Because I will...I will do anything your twisted, bitter brain can think of to humiliate me, to save her..." Sirius roared desperately as he prepared to drop to his knees.

Severus desperately, wanted to take more pleasure in seeing one of the man protagonists of his tormented youth, in such a desperate, pathetic and vulnerable state, but he couldn't. As he knew from bitter experience, nothing he could say or do, would be able to hurt Black more, than the very real possibility that he was going to lose the woman he so obviously adored.

Waving aside the effusive welcomes from what looked like the entire Order, as he stepped into the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, Severus began barking questions at the exhausted and increasingly frazzled Azura. Before turning and banishing everyone from the kitchen.

"I cannot be expected to concentrate in a room full of pitiful whimpering. Please find one of the many other rooms, to conduct your emotional meander down memory lane." He had snapped coldly, before readjusting the glasses that dangled precariously on the end of his long nose and snapping his fingers towards a hovering Azura.

"You heard him you lot...shift..." Sirius had growled as he began marshalling people towards the stairs. Before he left himself however, Sirius had turned.

"Thank you Severus." He said quietly.

Severus looked up from the cauldron he was looking into.

"Don't thank me yet."

A bright, but strangely lethargic sun had just begun to pull itself over the horizon when Severus and Azura, emerged from the kitchen clutching a vile of violent purple liquid. There was no look of triumph on their faces, just grim desperation and the smallest flicker of hope.

"The missing ingredient was Domesto Ajaxa Essence. A very old and toxic substance, that when mixed with the other ingredients we found, can cause the corrosive and poisonus effects which have been affecting Hermione. I wouldn't have seen it...it was Severus who noticed the distinctive smell and pattern in the liquid."Azura said wearily, collapsing heavily into one of the seats at the kitchen table.

"We have constructed an antidote...whilst we are fairly certain that it will halt any further damage. We will not be able to determine if there are any lasting effects until Miss Granger wakes." Severus said.

"How...how long till she wakes?" Molly asked cautiously.

"If we are right...this evening."

Everyone would comment later, that it had felt as though someone had cursed time to move torturously slowly during that seemingly never ending day. People would feel like they had been engaged in their various tasks either in the house, or outside in their respective homes and places of work for hours. Only to look up and realise only minutes had past.

Not that Sirius either noticed, or cared about what was happening outside his bedroom door. His entire life was lying like a fallen angel, in the bed before him. The antidote had managed to ease Hermione's pain allowing her to rest a little easier, and allowing Molly and one of Azura's Healer witches to gently wash down Hermione's sweat slicked body and change both her night dress and the sodden sheets she was lying on. With the infinite tenderness that you can only find in a mothers touch, Molly had gently combed Hermione's curls, arranging on the pillow around her like a halo, before laying the softest of kisses upon her clammy forehead and quietly leaving the room.

For hours, Sirius simply held Hermione's hand in his own, raising it from time to time to his lips, as he told her just how much he loved her, as he reminisced about their shared moments;

"You remember when we went to the seaside on the bike? That seagull dumped all over the shoulder of your favourite blouse. Your face...you literally ordered me to morph and go and attack every seagull I could find. Which of course I did, only for that snotty Muggle woman to come storming up to you, yelling at you to get your 'beast of a dog under control'. And if I remember rightly kitten, your beast , spent a very enjoyable night undergoing some incredibly erotic obedience classes." He said with a soft chuckle.

Sirius tried to do as Azura said and not panic as Hermione's temperature begin to rise.

"Her body is working over time to fight the toxins, sweat out the poison." She had explained. But he had become more and more anxious as he had watched Hermione begin to writhe and thrash in pain once more.

"This is it Sirius, she's building to the crisis point...we will know in a couple of hours. But she is going to need you...I am going to have to neutralise the painkillers in her system, I need her fully coherent to see what damage has been done. These next few hours, they will be painful..." Azura said sadly.

And she was proven right, as Hermione writhed and moaned in pain as her body fought the poisonous toxins and endured the agony of Skelegrow repairing her broken ribs. Sirius said and did everything he could think of to try and soother her, enchanting his voice to allow him to continue speaking, even though his throat felt painfully raw.

Move me with your words

And your tenderness...

Reached, the part of me I never knew was there...

I just want to thank the moon and the stars up above...

Someone up there...must have heard my prayer...

Azura Shacklebolt would tell her husband later that night, that walking into the bedroom as she had, to see a devastated and exhausted Sirius Black crooning the beautiful words of the song Hermione had dedicated to him what felt like a life time ago, his voice and his spirit finally cracking on that final line, causing him to let his head fall forward onto the side of the bed where their hands were tightly joined and sob, had had to be one of the most heartbreakingly sad things she had ever seen. But she would have no words, to describe the look on Sirius face when feeling a movement beneath him he had looked up to see a groggy Hermione straight at him, her green eyes shining brightly in her pale face with unshed tears, concern and all consuming, soul defining, real love.

"Mione...oh Mione, my beautiful...brave girl..." he had breathed in disbelief, reaching out his free hand to gently cup her face, whilst he raised the other to his lips.

"You came back...You came back to me..."

Leaning into the touch of his hand on her cheek, Hermione had nodded, unable to stop the tears trickling down her cheeks as she feasted her eyes on the beautiful man who's devotion, who's words of love had given her the strength to fight against the pain that had threatened to consume her.

"I...I heard you...I heard your prayer Sirius..." she whispered, her throat feeling painfully dry. "And...of course...I...came back...I...promised...didn't I?" she rasped, her tone sounding delightfully exasperated. He swore, if she had had the energy, she would have been rolling her eyes.

"Yes...Yes you did... thank you baby..." Sirius chuckled softly, before leaning forward to try and express in the necessarily brief, yet tender kiss, even some of the overwhelming gratitude he felt towards the broken, yet not beaten witch, who had saved his life again. And whose love, he now knew for sure, would be the shining beacon to protect him from the darkness of his past.